Board officials have been invited in the hopes that a series could be played in Pakistan
02 July, 2019
PHOTO: AFP
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited officials from England and Australia in order to pave the path for a future bilateral series on home soil.
While talking exclusively to a representative of Express, PCB chairman Ehsan Mani has stated that it was unfortunate that the board was not able to enjoy a good relationship with other cricket nations in the past years.
The chairman said that he was trying to improve those relationships and has invited various board officials to visit Pakistan.
“I am trying to improve our relationship with other boards. The Chief Executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Chairman and CEO of Cricket Australia (CA) will visit Pakistan after the World Cup. You can tell anyone anything when they are outside but no progress can be made until they come and see it for themselves,” said Mani.
The chairman added that measures were being taken to invite board officials in the hopes that a series with England and Australia could be played in Pakistan in the near future.
“We want the two boards to come and assess the security situation of Pakistan themselves. I also met the head of the New Zealand Cricket Board in London during the match. I have a good relationship with all three boards. They all know me,” he said. “I want the relationship to be good at the board level as well. We are hopeful of scheduling an Australian tour of Pakistan in 2022 and England tour in 2023.”
Mani also said that he will be meeting the Pakistan team on Wednesday. He highlighted that his aim is to improve the spirit of the team.
“I do not want to exert any pressure on the team. All I want is to raise their spirits. This is the time to support the team. I try to raise the spirits of Sarfaraz and company every now and again. We will analyse the team performance after the World Cup. Right now we want to qualify for the semi-final,” he said.
He also responded to a question about the incidents that occurred during the Pakistan and Afghanistan World Cup encounter by stating: "The incident is being reviewed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and England officials. The government itself has also lodged a protest on the incidents that happened. I'm hopeful that these incidents will not be repeated."
